The development team at Illuminated Films was searching for something fresh – and, led by the head of development, decided to create it themselves.
The result is Caiman–a friendly young alligator living in a semi-tropical paradise. His world is full of colour–not just the vegetation but also the cast of characters that inhabit this lively mangrove community.
With an award from Creative Europe, Illuminated developed ‘Caiman’ into a project that has been selected for Cartoon Forum–with sponsorship from Adam Selly’s Union Media.
The new approach has created a ‘stand out’ authentic character that is relatable to young audiences everywhere. The pilot, which has been written by talented writer Moya O’Shea and directed by Sue Tong, is now complete and will be launched with an advertising campaign that will be Illuminated’s first.
Caiman has been created in-house by head of development Rebecca Warner-Perry and received media development funding in 2015 as part of a slate award. Then, Illuminated started working with children’s script writer Moya O’Shea.
Moya has since completed two scripts, working closely with director Sue Tong, and Caiman now has a fully determined writing style, world and character voices.
Moya moved swiftly onto writing an introductory 7-minute pilot episode which Illuminated have now completed production on. This pilot will accompany a selection of pitching materials which Illuminated have also completed including a development bible.